Could Ford transfer the desert-busting treatment on to its seven-seat SUV?

Coming Soon: Ford Everest Raptor

Could Ford transfer the desert-busting treatment on to its seven-seat SUV?

Coming Soon: Ford Everest Raptor

13 Feb 2018Alex Rae

What is it?

It’s the sibling of the Ranger Raptor. The Everest is a wagon derived from the same platform as the Ranger ute but it has a coil sprung rear-end and shorter wheelbase.

Given the Ranger Raptor adopts a Watt’s link coil sprung rear, it isn’t too far removed to suggest Ford could beef up its family wagon, which has a similar suspension setup already, with some of the Raptor’s parts.

In fact that’s just what Ford Performance head engineer Jamal Hameedi told Drive, though it poses some challenges.

“There’s no reason [we wouldn’t do an Everest Raptor],” he said.

“The first F-150 Raptor was way beyond our wildest dreams in terms of success, and that success spawned a Ranger Raptor. So to do an SUV is a little more difficult because you have to figure out how to deal with the rear suspension. In the form of a bodyside outer it’s not just a box outer [and that] poses a unique challenge in how you package that.”

Ford's local arm also told Drive that it thinks performance SUVs are the future.

"Long term it would make sense if you look at the fact that passenger vehicles were overtaken by SUVs this [2017] year. There’s definitely a case for more performance oriented or at least more sports styled SUVs in the future," said Ford Australia product communications manager Damion Smy.

"I don’t think that's a crazy question, I think it makes sense."

What will it look like?

We’ve rendered our thoughts above on what an Everest Raptor would look like and think most of the race-ready Ranger’s parts would be easiest for the blue oval to attach to the wagon version. Ford Pacific design director Todd Willing, who penned some of the Raptor, says that some of the bits are Ranger specific which might leave room for interpretation.

“All of the design elements that you see on Ranger [Raptor] have been designed specifically for that application and it’s obviously covering over the chassis work that’s gone on underneath [and] that’s what [the Everest chassis] is.

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We know the Ranger Raptor debuts Ford’s new 2.0-litre twin turbocharged diesel that produces 157kW of power and 500Nm of torque through a strengthened 10-speed automatic transmission – but there’s more potential inside to be unleashed.

However, that might not happen in an Everest Raptor, with Ford Performance saying that goal of a Raptor is a blend of performance rather than outright pace.

“It’s not about torque, it's about having enough horsepower and enough torque to do the job. But it's not the focal point,” said Hameedi.

Instead, the same engine and spec might carryover to join a stronger reinforced chassis with increase travel via tuned or new shocks absorbers, such as the race-bred Fox Racing Shox underneath the ute. Hameedi’s comments that the bodyside rear of the Everest is harder to work with suggest the highly modified set-up of the Ranger might not be seen in an Everest Raptor though.

Inside is likely to echo the new dual-cab’s additions that include bolstered sports seats, sports steering wheel with paddle shifters and black trim with contrasting blue stitch work.

Pricing is yet to be confirmed for even the Ranger Raptor, but given the current gap between the Ranger and Everest, a hard-core performance variant with all of the Fox Racing bits and modifications of the Ranger would likely cost more than $85,000.

When is it coming?

The Ranger Raptor is due to launch around mid-2018 and it’s not likely we’d see any kind of Everest version until at least 2019.

How likely is it?

Given the Ranger and Everest share the same platform it isn’t too long a stretch to suggest it could happen, but it’s likely the wagon bodystyle will restrict how far the suspension is pushed.

Ford has not even hinted it will do it yet – more likely it will focus on a petrol equipped Ranger Raptor for the US first - but Hameedi doesn’t rule it out.

“We just announced our Edge ST which was our first sport model in an SUV.

“Because you have to have a wide track and long travel suspension doing it [a Raptor] in the form of an SUV… is a little more challenging.

“It would be a lot of money and a lot of development. Not impossible though.”